John
Hunter, Treatise on the Natural History and
Diseases of the Human Teeth, 1778

The alveolar processes of both jaws should rather be
considered as belonging to the teeth than as parts of the jaws;
for they begin to be formed with the teeth, keep pace with them in
their growth, and decay and entirely disappear when the teeth fall
out; so that if we had no teeth, it is likely we should not only
have no sockets, but not even these processes in which the sockets
are formed; for the jaws can perform their motions, and give
origin to muscles, without either the teeth
or alveolar processes. In short, there is such a mutual
dependence of the teeth and alveolar processes on each
other, that the destruction of the one seems to be always attended
with that of the other.